so nice to find this place. i am a severe weight weenie, perhaps the most OCD of us here.. for sake's say i have a Mantis Ac-x(titanium chainstays we made) and an Alien both under 19 lbs. even my weenie dog is well groomed and a good racer..and light. if i'm not the most obcessive i'll be pleased to see others as bad off as i. paint weight is a big deal to me.. i cut threads, make my own tire tubes(already using the tubeless but don't have the happy stories most do), made my own chainrings, adapted 300 dollar titanium chains, made my own chainstay. probably soon i'll make my own parts due to what i'm about to mention....
well that said, i need some advice about the high end parts now available out there. i'm american and it seems all of the most interesting and best companies from here are gone. i notice that many Europeans visit this site and from my research and word of mouth the best MTB parts are now made in Europe. Storck, Tune, Morati, etc. we had far more choice on this side of the pond before. in fact a service i can help this site with is that i own older bicycle catalogs with measured weights. THE OLDER PARTS ARE LIGHTER AND MORE DURABLE! Grafton, Michibi, early Dean, Phantom, Hershey, etc.. were lighter and seemingly better tested. when i got back to cycling, i was so happy to see wonderful changes in road cycling technology and weight(which when i last was racing MTB was far superior to, it was possible to assemble, allthough extremely expensive, a group of components for MTB well lighter than road). i was extremely Dissapointed to get back to MTB racing and notice that there are so fewer amazng parts. i distantly noticed XTR components more than double in price. the in some ways superior pre-XtR XTcomponents that were the top for shimano quadrupled. XTR is now more expensive than most of the high end passionatly handmade parts i used to admire. more expensive than the European parts i like now.
OK! all that said can someone please let me know of any hidden well made parts makers that care all weight-weenie-insane made with passion and quality? this is the third message board i've posted on and so far no-one has a recommendation. we're certainly not wealthy but to me it's better to wait to get teh best in the world than buy something inferior. by the way..i do love tweaking parts for far more than bicycles but riding is more fun so i'm not one of those
any advice or help greatley appreciated. WHAT ARE THE VERY VERY LIGHTEST and BEst parts available these days?
for you Brits reading we're rooting for Tim Henman as much as you. (secret P.S. we're only 42% war-mongering, shallow fools
best regards,
^v^
